Our Projects
United
Christian Communities
bases its decisions on
projects to pursue upon
its evaluation of the
potential of any given
proposed project to
help:
-connect Christians in
North America with the
Holy Land, with
Christians and Christian
communities living in
the Holy Land, and
with Christian churches
and institutions in the
Holy Land.
- eliminate the factors
contributing to the
flight of Christians
from the Holy Land.
- stimulate, create or
enhance and environment
in the Holy Land that
will encourage those
Christians who have fled
the Holy Land to return,
and enable those living
there to thrive
The following are our
current projects and our
"shovel ready" projects,
i.e., those about the
launch subject to
initial funding.
The
Education Project
As amazing as it may
sound at first sight,
the fact is that very
few Christians living in
North America are even
aware that there are
Christians living in the
Holy Land.
Further, of those who
are aware, only a few
know of the
circumstances
confronting them,
circumstances that are
causing Christians to
flee the Holy Land in
such numbers that the
continued existence of
living Christian
communities in the Holy
Land is in question.
For that reason we are
called upon in our
efforts to begin our
efforts to help to halt
the flight of Christian
from the Holy Land with
educational programming.
This includes this
website, our blog (click
here to view our
blog) our Facebook page
(click
here to view our
Facebook page) and our
Tweets via Twitter (click
here to view our
Twitter page).
The
Clergy Project
Through the Clergy
Project we ask clergy to
join us in the effort to
connect Christians living
in North America with
the Holy Land and the
Christian communities
living there.
Specifically we ask
clergy to help
educate their
congregations and
keep them informed
about Christians living
in the Holy Land and
their circumstances.
The Clergy Project
supports clergy in this
effort, by providing
materials for use in
sermons, newsletters and
other means of
communication.
There is no cost or
obligation to the
clergy.
Click here for more
information.
The
Christian Voice
Roundtables Project
The
Christian Voice
Roundtables Project
will provide
settings for Christians
living in the Holy Land
to meet with
representatives of
the governments
and other civil
institutions under which
they live to convey to,
and discuss with, them
the circumstances they
face as a double
minority that contribute
to the flight of
Christians from the Holy
Land and to discuss
ideas each may have to
address those
circumstances.
The Roundtables will be
held in pairs on
successive days: one in
Nazareth, Israel and one
in Bethlehem, Palestine.
Facilitators will
moderate the
roundtables.
Attendees will
include government
representatives,
representatives of
Jewish and Muslim
clergy (in the case of
roundtables held in
Israel), Muslim clergy (in
the case of roundtables
held in Palestine) and
where appropriate,
representatives of civil
associations addressing
the issues discussed
(collectively the
“Ex-officio
Participants”)
along with 12
Christians from all
strata of Christian
society.
Members of the
Knesset and the
Palestinian Authority,
respectively, will be
invited to attend and
participate.
Attendance is limited
to no more than
36 people at each
roundtable.
Each session will be
filmed.
Edited versions
of the sessions, with
voiceover translations,
will be distributed to
churches in North
America and to others
who request them.
Shorter edited
segments will be placed
on the Internet for
viewing.
Funds are currently
being sought for a pair of
Roundtables (one in
Nazareth, Israel and one
in Bethlehem,
Palestine).
Subsequent
Roundtables will be held
on a quarterly basis.
For more information
call 800.869.4919.
The
Hands Across the Ocean,
Hands Across the River Project
The Hands Across the Ocean, Hands across the River Project addresses minority issues
affecting Arab Americans
(a majority of whom are
Christian) in major U.S.
cities through a year
-long series engagements
among Christian Arab and
Muslim Arab high school
students born in the
Holy Land (i.e., Israel
and Palestine) and
majority teens born in
the U.S. By utilizing
the mosaic of diverse
ethnicities, religions
and cultures typically
found in major US cities
as a tool to explore and
understand these issues,
and framing the Arab
minority experience
within the context of
the cities’ diversity,
the Hands Across Project
aims to give the oft
ignored Arab community a
voice, provide a setting
for them to address
their issues in Arab and
American societies at
large, and heal the
growing rift between
Christian Arab and
Muslim Arab communities
in the U.S. and in the
Holy Land.
Arab Americans (a
majority of whom are
Christian) face a
barrage of greater and
lesser indignities,
opportunities denied,
and injustices in North
America by reason of
their Arab heritage.
Much of it is intimately
related to their being
perceived as strangers
and as a subversive
danger, a prejudice that
is reinforced by
stereotyped Arab
characters in the
popular media. The
situation is exacerbated
by the tendency of Arab
Americans, as is the
case with most minority
Americans, to live in
communities (not always
by choice) that are
often insular and rarely
provide opportunities to
interact socially with
the larger community.
The Hands Across Project
is uniquely structured
to unite the disparate
neighborhoods (and
communities) spread
throughout a city by
exposing its
participants to
different neighborhoods
and their residents, in
many cases for the first
time in their lives.
Time will be spent by
participants exploring,
on foot, the
neighborhood in which
each session is held.
The
Scholarship Project
Offered in conjunction
with dioceses and synods
in the Holy Land, the
Scholarship Project
helps to arrange and
fund scholarships for
college-age Christians
living in the Holy Land
to attend colleges in
North America. In
addition, the Scholarship
Project helps to assure
sufficient mentoring and
other support is
provided to the students
to help them succeed
in their academic and
social experiences in,
what is for them, a new
culture. While in
attendance at the
colleges, they are
obligated to be
available as a resource
for the college in
connection with courses
and educational events
offered relating to
their Christian
experience in the Holy
Land (i.e., Israel and
Palestine) and also the
social and/or political
situation in the Holy
Land and the Mideast in
general. For more
information call
1.800.869.4919.
The
Film Project
The Film Project
is creating a film that will
inform North American
Christians about, and
help to connect
with, Christians living
in the Holy Land.
The film will be provided to churches
throughout, initially,
North America, without
cost to them, to be
screened at church
events – events at which
the film could initiate
an organized discussion
after the screening.
Further, in addition to
the main film,
a series of
shorter films of
approximately five to
ten minutes in length
will be spun out from
the footage shot and
offered to churches,
again without charge, to
place on their web
sites.
These short films
will also be circulated
through YouTube and
social media sites for
widest possible
distribution.
The heart of the film
will be the personal
stories of Christians
and their families
living in the Holy Land.
We will focus on a few
families, each impacted
in different ways by
their circumstances. We
will see them live their
lives; we will hear them
tell their stories; and
others close to them
will bring outside
perspectives, further
illuminating the
particular situations
that make life more
challenging to live for
these people in the Holy
Land.
Stories are as old as
the spoken or written
word. They draw the
viewer in. They command
attention. From the
beginning of history, we
have communicated with
stories. The prime
example is the influence
and impact of the story
told in the Bible.
Through stories, ideas
are communicated; people
are influenced; history
is chronicled; the
future is imagined.
The film will get to the
very heart of what it
means to live as a
Christian in the Holy
Land; the intensity they
feel living in the land
where Christ was born
and died; the effects of
being a minority among
Arabs and Israelis alike
and the pressures
of living with multiple
identities in a land
riven by war. We will
learn how they feel about
those who have
emigrated, and we will
discover their hopes and
expectations for their
own personal future and
the future of Christians
living in the Holy Land.
Funding for the Film
Project is being sought
and a short film
describing it is being
produced now and will be
available shortly.
For more information
call 800.869.4919.
Projects Under
Development
The
Action Alert Project
Expressions of
concern by significant
numbers of Christians
living in North America
about particular
governmental and
non-governmental acts and actions that
adversely affect
Christians in the Holy
Land, can have a
profound effect on
halting or rectifying
those actions, actions
that are a significant
factor in causing
Christians to flee the
Holy Land. The
Action Alert Project
will build on the
success of the Education
Project and the Clergy
Project. When
those governmental and
non-governmental acts and actions
that adversely affect
Christians occur or are
about to occur, Action
Alerts will be sent to
clergy and laity in
North America informing
them of those acts or
actions and suggesting
steps they can take to
help, e.g., letter or
email campaigns.
The
We Are Still Here
Project
The We are Still Here
Project will bring
Christians from the Holy
Land to North American
cities for short
term visits (under a
week) to meet with local
communities at a
grassroots level
in order to expose those
communities to
Christians from the Holy
Land andtheir
history and
circumstances.
These meetings will be
held under the auspices
of local churches,
schools and civic
associations.
The
Holy Land Marketplace
Facility Project
The Holy Land
Marketplace Facility
Project will permit
churches, through their
websites or United
Christian Communities'
website, to offer
their congregations
opportunities to
purchase goods and
services directly from
Christian businesses in
the Holy Land.
Learn
about the travels and acts of
Jesus.
Click here
Learn
about the Biblical significance
of the number 40.
Click here